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The first idea is to change the Senate rules so that filibustering is highly visible and those filibustering are known and accountable. No more secret holds. No more fiilbustering of debate. -There are often good and valid reasons to filibuster legislation, but there is no good reason for secrecy, no good reason to filibuster debate, and no good reason to make it so easy as to be trivial.

A filibuster should only happen when someone is willing to actually stand up and talk about the issue… or at least pretend what they are saying is about the issue, but in any case, a real person really taking.

That is the main reason I’m opposed to the carbon. tax. I see it as becoming like the lottery where the monies collected were supposed to go to education but wound up in the general fund with some (but hardly all) of it then given back to education. The same happens to the National Highway Trust Fund. The Social Security money that is in excess of current need is “borrowed” by the Treasury. The Treasury then gives the Social Security Administration a non-transferable treasury bond. The multi-billion dollar settlement with the tobacco industry was supposed to fund the treatment of tobacco related illnesses but wound up in the general fund.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the carbon tax to go to extending the reduction in the payroll tax. For all of it’s benefits, the carbon tax would be a regressive tax (like payroll, sales, and property taxes) falling hardest on the poor, who pay out a larger share of their incomes on those items. This is something that British Columbia is already doing, and it’s working well—though it’ll work better if other states and provinces jump on board.

There are myriad methods of dealing with the issues presented in this cartoon. Mr. Toles offers only one of the many, equally controversial, choices, and turns focus and argument on that one point. It will take a multifaceted approach to fix our problems. Total elimination of taxes/fees/services/etc are probably less needed than making common sense and balanced adjustments to the existing legal structure. The key to reducing costs is to locate those ‘loopholes’ lobbyists installed in bills that weakened the bills while increasing costs overall. Respectfully,C.

You know the idea behind the carbon tax is a libertarian one. The argument isn’t about the method (i.e., polluters of the Commons paying the Commons for damage, or the right to do damage. The tax rate should reflect the best guess of the monetary value to society of that damage. The revenues collected must go toward making people & society whole & mitigating against the cost of the damage. Imperfect, yes, but it lets the market can make rational decisions of whether to pollute & how much to pollute at the margin.)

The argument is mainly about the reality of this particular pollutant. (I’m not arguing either side of that here.) But in reading comments here, confusion reigns over divorcing revenue or tax rates from pollution damage. Acting on ideas expressed above would diminish rational decisions about polluting.

“You did not have a problem with Democrats Filibustering the Senate when the Republicans held the Majority in the Senate.”-It’s not a partisan issue. Changes in the Senate rules would apply to both parties.-I don’t have a problem with Republicans filibustering when there’s a good reason.-I do have a problem with either party filibustering debate. I have a problem with filibustering ANY nominee for a consumer protection appointment. I have a problem with secret holds on legilslation, and most everything secret.-I especially have a problem with Republicans filibustering specifically to damage the American economy in order to try to damage Obama.-You want to defend those?

^During the health care debate we were treated to the spectacle of seven Republicans proposing a change to the prospective legislation. Obama said he would support such a change. -Republicans immediately invoked a filibuster.-The count of 350+ filibusters in the last four years is really a count of cloture motions, so the actual count of filibusters is way higher. The example above did not have a cloture motion filed.

Dude we have not reduced government since the 1950s. Think about that, that is why we have these troubles to much spending.

There are approx: 2.7 Millon Federal Civilian19.8 Million Local and State2.3 Active Duty and Reserve Military that equals 24.8 million. Now with 100 million people now on well fare you can tax the rich all you want and it will not do a thing.

“How is the picking of winners of this alternate energy going for our dear Prez?”

" So just how many federally-funded energy companies have failed? A total of five have gone bankrupt, according to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. All of the failed companies that the Committee identified came from just two programs that received significant dollar amounts from the Department of Energy. Those two programs funded 63 firms. The other 58 are still in business. That’s a failure rate of about 8%."

No one is saying “take everything”, but the accumulated wealth of the 1% is around a quarter of all wealth. That’s $15-$20 trillion, or more than enough to completely pay off the deficit.

The Republican proposals on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid add up to $300 billion in savings over 10 years, compared to Obama’s $1.6 trillion in revenue. So the main rallying point for the GOP is to inflict suffering on the elderly & the poor in order to pay for about ONEDAY of Federal spending.

If you think the GOP is serious about cutting the deficit, I have some prime swamp… err, I mean prime water front property I want to sell you.

“It was LBJ who stole money from the SS Fund to fund his ‘War on Poverty’ Odd how the Liberals on this Board are not screaming how horrible a President LBJ was to steal money from The Middle Class Senior Citizens to give to people who do nothing at all.”

Tigger, spend a few seconds on Google and see when the raiding of the SS fund really ramped up. It was in 1987, during Reagan’s 2nd term. The amount taken from SS prior to that by all Presidents combined was small. And in fairness to the conservative Republicans in this forum, the raiding of the SS fund continued during every President since then. But the real damage began in 1987.

About Tom Toles

With his singular style, Tom Toles tackles the complex issues of the day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist skillfully targets political, economic and social concerns — in particular complicated environmental issues — with a clear-eyed precision that hits the mark every time.